Exogenous melatonin improves the chilling tolerance and preharvest fruit shelf life in eggplant by affecting ROS- and senescence-related processes

Lijun Song; Zhuo Tan; Weiwei Zhang; Qiang Li; Zhaoxiang Jiang; Shuxing Shen; Shuangxia Luo; Xueping Chen

Horticultural Plant Journal (Jun 2023)

Exogenous melatonin improves the chilling tolerance and preharvest fruit shelf life in eggplant by affecting ROS- and senescence-related processes

Lijun Song,
Zhuo Tan,
Weiwei Zhang,
Qiang Li,
Zhaoxiang Jiang,
Shuxing Shen,
Shuangxia Luo,
Xueping Chen

Affiliations

Lijun Song: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China
Zhuo Tan: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China
Weiwei Zhang: College of Life Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China
Qiang Li: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China
Zhaoxiang Jiang: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China
Shuxing Shen: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China
Shuangxia Luo: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China; Corresponding authors.
Xueping Chen: State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Hebei, Collaborative Innovation Center of Vegetable Industry in Hebei, College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China; Corresponding authors.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9, no. 3
pp. 523 – 540

Abstract

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Low temperature is the most common abiotic stress factors during the eggplant cultivation in solar greenhouses. Melatonin plays important roles in plant resistance to low temperature. However, the role of melatonin in regulating chilling tolerance and extending the preharvest shelf life of eggplant fruits is still unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of exogenous melatonin on eggplant plants and fruits in response to low temperature. Under simulated low-temperature conditions, exogenous melatonin significantly relieved the chilling symptoms of seedlings by reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and relative leakage rates. These reductions were caused by higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities and increased endogenous polyamine and melatonin levels compared with those in untreated seedlings. Notably, the expression levels of SOD, CAT1/2, and polyamine synthesis genes (ADC and ODC) were also increased by 100 μmol · L−1 melatonin, as well as those of genes involved in melatonin synthesis (TDC, T5H, SNAT, ASMT, and COMT) and cold regulation (COR1, CBFa/b, and ZAT2/6/12). To further investigate the effects of melatonin on eggplant leaves and fruits under natural low temperature conditions, 100 μmol · L−1 melatonin was sprayed on the functional leaves at three days before commodity maturation. Melatonin significantly alleviated chilling injury in the leaves and pericarp and extended the preharvest shelf life of the fruit by increasing the expression of COR1, CBF, ZAT2/6/12, and API5 and decreasing the expression of senescence-related genes (NCED1/2 and SAG12). Therefore, 100 μmol · L−1 melatonin improved chilling tolerance and fruit shelf life by upregulating ZAT2/6/12 to affect ROS- and senescence-related processes, which provides a reference for alleviating cold stress and extending the preharvest fruit shelf life in eggplant.

Published in Horticultural Plant Journal

ISSN: 2095-9885 (Print); 2468-0141 (Online)
Publisher: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Country of publisher: China
LCC subjects: Agriculture: Plant culture
Website: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/horticultural-plant-journal/

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